Blast wheel technology is well known wherein shot is directed toward material to be treated by feeding the shot through an impeller onto a set of spinning blades. Of course, the blades accelerate the shot so as to achieve the desired deburring of the material situated in the blast machine. Naturally, over time the constant impinging of shot on the blades causes wear to the point that the blades must be replaced. Typically, the blast wheel housing is positioned on the blast machine in such a manner that access thereto is quite awkward.
In order to gain access to the interior of known housings, the top is removed and the sides of the housing are rotated downwardly such that access to the blades and other wearable parts is attained for purposes of removal and replacement. This is an arduous process typically requiring two persons working one-half of a day each to open the housing, replace the worn parts and close the housing.
A housing for a blast wheel comprising a front wall, a rear wall, and a pair of end walls extending upwardly from a baseplate, the top secured in abutting relationship with the upper edges of the walls to form an enclosure, a blast wheel rotatably disposed in the enclosure, an opening formed in the front wall to provide access to the enclosure, an access door connected to the front wall to provide closure means for the opening, an aperture formed in the access door, and a feed chute detachably secured to the access door for feeding shot through the aperture and toward the blast wheel.